This collection pulses with life and energy, exploring through a combination of poetic prose and poetry the physical and psychological challenges of hiking, mountain climbing and life, including the break-up of a long-term relationship and the deaths of friends through climbing accidents. Miller’s career (before retirement) as a psychologist undoubtedly informs his inquiry into ideas of wilderness, wellbeing and resilience – in particular the notion that mastering physical adversity can help to maintain a positive mental state. Previously published and unpublished work spanning forty-two years is combined in this book, providing an intimate overview of a life lived on the edge in the most literal sense, and including Attempting to Interfere, which won the Yeovil Literary Prize for Poetry in 2011. Miller’s writing is sometimes humorous, deeply personal, and full of richly detailed observations, part of a continually developing tradition of walking and climbing literature – Aly Stoneman,  Left Lion, Nottingham

Who can say when or how hope springs? Today like a ray of sunlight, a small book has landed on my desk … It may already be a collector’s item … For there is a breath of humanity in this book … Having this book in my hands for half an hour was like sitting on the grass with my back against a tree. It made me sway – Ed Drummond, poet, activist and legendary British rock climber, reviewing ‘Hanging in the Balance’ in Mountain

This brave, fragile pamphlet of four essays and six poems deftly tells the story of hanging in the balance as climber, father, companion, husband, club-member and divorcee. It begins with a crag rescue and ends with the challenge of Christmas Day alone, ‘without self-pity or cynicism.’ This is the best writing I’ve read for ages. Better than whole books of empty narrative, this little bit of autobiography climbs through the important things in life. It will repay re-reading – Professor Terry Gifford, Director of the International Festival of Mountaineering Literature. reviewing ‘Hanging in the Balance’ in High

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